Shareholders vent at Bankia

SMALL-TIME investors who lost money after the Eurozone bailed out Spain’s Bankia last year booed the lender’s leaders yesterday, rejecting assurances at a shareholders’ meeting that the worst was over.

Bankia had to be rescued barely a year after a stock market listing campaign that had targeted ordinary Spaniards.

Goirigolzarri said the bank’s review of those loans would show no need for additional capital after booking a core capital ratio – a key measure of a bank’s solvency – of 10 per cent at the end of the first quarter, up from 9.5 per cent at the end of December.

“This is key because it allows us to affirm that we have no additional capital needs at Bankia,” he said.